The present disclosure relates generally to air inerting systems for aircraft and other applications where an inert gas may be required and, more specifically, to catalytic oxidation of fuel.
Aircraft fuel tanks can contain potentially combustible combinations of oxygen, fuel vapors, and ignition sources. Commercial aviation regulations require actively managing the risk of explosion in the vapor space (i.e., ullage) above the liquid fuel in fuel tanks. This can be accomplished by reducing the oxygen concentration in the ullage by displacing the air in the ullage with an inert gas containing less than 12% oxygen. Conventional fuel tank inerting (FTI) methods include air separation module (ASM) methods that utilize hollow fiber membranes to separate ambient air into nitrogen-enriched air, which is directed to fuel tanks, and oxygen-enriched air, which is usually rejected overboard. AMS methods rely on bleed air from a compressor stage of an engine, which is not always available in the desired quantity at sufficient pressure thereby requiring aircraft engines to idle during descent.